ABSTRACT

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), pharmaceuticals, and personal care products (PPCPs) are of scientic and public concern as newly recognized classes of environmental pollutants and are receiving considerable attention with respect to their environmental fate and toxicological properties over the last decade (Santos et al., 2010; Fatta-Kassinos et al. 2011). Many of the EDCs and PPCPs (that are often pharmacologically active or endocrine modulating across multiple levels of biological organization) are released into municipal sewage systems and it is also well known that-depending on their chemical structure-many of them can even survive the passage through sewage treatment plants, which have been identied as the most important sources for the introduction of these substances into surface water systems (Kümmerer, 2004). Thus, the widespread, environmental distribution of EDCs/PPCPs is well known, and the number of studies published in recent years (Caliman and Gavrilescu 2009; Snyder et al. 2009; Burkhardt-Holm 2010; Kumar and Xagoraraki 2010; Phillips et al. 2010; Santos et al., 2010;

31.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 871 31.2 Historical Perspective of EDC/PPCP Measurements .................................................................. 872 31.3 Target Compounds ....................................................................................................................... 872

31.3.1 Pharmaceuticals ............................................................................................................... 872 31.3.2 Personal Care Products ................................................................................................... 873 31.3.3 What Are EDCs? ..............................................................................................................874